It’s not a secret I adore Benedict Cumberbatch, but I don’t always love the projects he chooses (I submit into evidence the Julian Assange movie that I still haven’t seen). This film however I’ve been excited to see.

The Imitation Game is about Alan Turing, a brilliant if socially inept mathematician who was responsible for breaking the Enigma Code and therefore essentially winning WWII for the Allies. He is also considered the father of modern computers (computers were called Turing machines for a long time). Without Turing computers could have and would have come much later in our development as a species (can you imagine?). Unfortunately Turing took his own life at the tender age of 41 after being convicted by the British government for ‘gross indecency‘ which was code for homosexuality. The statistics around this and the horrific punishment implemented (your choices were jail or chemical castration) are disgusting.

Anyway, the film is wonderful and I’m looking forward to watching it again under less annoying circumstances. Cumberbatch is (predictably) impeccable in his depiction of a man who does not understand the world around him and therefore retreats to a world that is perfectly logical. Kiera Knightley has an admirable turn as a woman in a man’s world and Matthew Goode is particularly intriguing as well. Overall I think the movie is well done, well timed and well worth watching.